Przemyśl Synagoge

The Old Synagogue in Przemyśl, built in 1594, was one of the oldest and most important Jewish structures in the city. It was a center of Jewish religious and cultural life for centuries. Tragically, during the Nazi occupation in World War II, the synagogue was set on fire and destroyed, symbolizing the tragic destruction of the Jewish community during the Holocaust. The New Synagogue (Scheinbach Synagogue), built between 1910 and 1918, is still standing today. While it was damaged and repurposed during and after the war, it currently serves as a public library. This building stands as one of the few physical reminders of the rich Jewish heritage of Przemyśl, which was once home to a thriving Jewish community before the devastation of the Holocaust. The synagogues’ history reflects the profound cultural and religious influence of Jewish life in Przemyśl and its tragic destruction during World War II. wooden synagogue in PrzemyÊl replaced by the first masonry synagogue in the town. This was constructed on the basis of permission issued on 6 April, 1592, by Wawrzyniec GoÊlicki, 1, destroyed by fire in the years 1592-94, was Bishop of PrzemyÊl,2 who warned: that this proposed synagogue should not be ostentatious nor built to any great height, that the walls should be no higher than twenty ells. And if the internal proportions should make it necessary to lower the foundations, then they may dig out the earth to a depth of two or three ells, and that the internal width of the synagogue from wall to wall should be twenty ells, and its length to be thirty ells. The roofs must not be prominent, but low in the Italian manner with guttering around the roofs, around which roofs there should be a masonry wall, for greater security against fire."3 The construction is attributed to Andreas Pellegrini Bononiusz, active in PrzemyÊl at this period, responsible for the Cathedral school and bath-house (1580).4 The synagogue was situated within the town, adjacent to its defensive walls. The original synagogue consisted solely of a men’s hall, its plan a rectangle elongated along an eastwest axis. In time, a series of annexes were added along the north and west sides in a haphazard manner, of varied function, size and form. The main hall had stone walls strengthened by three corner buttresses and four middle buttresses, of which two – perhaps added later to protect the wall facing an unstable escarpment – projected a considerable distance, and subsequently served as the walls of annexes added to the exterior. The fourth of the corner buttresses, was probably removed in the course of later remodelling. On the axis of the east wall, there was a projection similar in form to a buttress, protecting the niche for the Holy Ark. The mass of the hall was originally covered by a sunken, two-trough roof, hidden by attic walls. Traces of its surfaces are visible in photographs of the ruins of the synagogue prior to its final demolition.5 This roof was eventually replaced, probably in the 19th century, by a hipped roof of gently sloping surfaces, its eaves resting upon the attic-walls. The main hall had internal dimensions of 18.00 m x 12.00 m, precisely adhering to the specifications laid down by Bishop GoÊlicki. A bimah-tower stood in its centre. Its square-plan platform was surrounded by four columns with Corinthian-like capitals, connected above by an arcade. The cornice on top of this served as the base for the curves of the vaulting – four cradles with lunettes stretched between the superstructure of the bimah and the walls. The edges of the vault-junctions and the lunettes were emphasised by modest stucco decoration; there were openings in the lunettes above the bimah-arcade